Niche Marketing to the Filipino

(This post originally appeared on FOBBDeep)

In May, UFC 98 featured a light heavyweight bout between Phillipe Nover and Kyle Bradley. 1 minute and 3 seconds into the fight, Nover was caught in a fury of punches, dropped to the mat but quickly regained ground. Even though Nover appeared capable of continuing in the fight, referee Yves Lavigne thought otherwise and quickly called a TKO in Bradley's favor. The fans booed Lavigne's decision.

Nover, considered by many to be the toughest registered nurse, faced a second disappointing loss in the Octogan; this time it was due to a questionable referee. While Nover's losses put a giant dent in his career, profiteer, Dana White, was probably the most disappointed as it placed another road bump in his plans for bringing a UFC fight to the Philippines.

In an interview soon after his The Ultimate Fighter loss, Nover remarked on plans for UFC to capitalize on the Filipino market by bringing a fight to the country. This business decision reflects a trend seen, more evident in the sphere of professional fighting, whereby Filipinos are being seen as a viable market. One needs to look no further than the success and marketing strategies being used to “sell” Manny Pacquiao.

Pacquiao has created a platform for many Filipino-Americans to identify with a mainstream figure; he matters. It is with the loyal following that Pacquiao generated which allows sports industry heads to take notice.

A few weeks ago, Bob Arum, announced that he would not be able to hold a night of Filipino boxing featuring fights with Nonito Donaire and Brian Viloria at AT&T Park due to a scheduling conflict. Arum acknowledges the strength of the Filipino-American community in the Bay Area, a community that sold out a Filipino Heritage Night for the San Francisco Giants. It isn't just in the Bay that these Filipino Heritage nights have generated big turnouts, as they have been successful at ball games in Los Angeles and San Diego as well.

It is evident that fight promoters have taken notice of this market audience. Aside from this and dancing, what other segments of pop culture do people notice has began to receive a Filipino focus?

On March 7, at his UFC debut, Mark Munoz gave fight archivists footage worthy of being in a UFC top knockouts list. Unfortunately for Munoz, the knockout came from Matt Hamill's head kick. The “Filipino Wrecking Machine” was seen as being too green to enter the UFC, but knowing Dana White's plans, one wonders whether Munoz's premature jump was a direct result of an attempt to create another Filipino-American fighting hero. Folks seem to be quick to pay attention to a segment of the population that they had previously ignored but are now doing what they can to sell us a bar of soap by attaching an eight rayed sun and three stars.

You can catch Ninoy Brown regularly on the amazing FOBB Deep blog.